A father goes off to war. A scene from Apocalypse: The Second World War.

To be able to understand world history through the eyes of the men and women who have witnessed war is a unique gift, and their narratives of that time are important to our collective history. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to sit down and interview my dad’s former college professor, Professor Carver. He was a tail gunner in WWII. In a soft, trembling voice, sitting beside his wife of 50 years, he told me of his wartime experiences. It was hard to imagine the 82-year-old man sitting before me, in the heat of battle, shooting at enemy planes and evacuating injured pilots on the runway. But, as he spoke of the intense missions, the colors, the smells, and the sounds, I imagined it all in black and white images influenced by so many monochromatic documentaries.

Now, thanks to a super intensive colorizing technique, the black and white images of the Second World War are restored in color.  The distance of time implied by black and white evaporates. Restored images filmed by the men and women who experienced the war provide a greater coherence of the events that changed the world. The armies are more apparent in their colored uniforms, and the time of day is evident by the color of the sky. The bright red flames of the cities that were destroyed flash before your eyes, just as they must have flashed before Professor Carver’s eyes more than 70 years ago. The color, combined with the sound, gives each event new meaning.

Produced by Louis Vaudeville and directed by Daniel Costelle and Isabel Clarke, Apocalypse: The Second World War is an intimate look at WWII, 70 years after the war began. The resulting story, culled from more than 600 hours of footage, is narrated by Martin Sheen and offers an invaluable look into the war as seen through the lenses of those individuals who knew they had an important story to tell.

Director Daniel Costelle sums up the experience of creating the series by quoting sociologist Gaston Bouthoul: “If you want peace, know the war.” There is much to be learned from the past, and we hope that our stories inspire you to share yours. Let us know about the heroes in your life. Leave a comment below or become a fan and visit our Facebook page to share stories and images of individuals that helped change the world.

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Maurizio Seracini examines a fresco thought be be hiding clues to a missing Da Vinci mural.

Our recent show, The Da Vinci Detective documented the efforts of Maurizio Seracini, a controversial scientist on the trail of a fascinating unsolved mystery. For 30 years he has searched for a lost Leonardo Da Vinci mural unseen since the 1540s.  In just a few weeks, he could be one step closer to an amazing discovery.

The missing Da Vinci mural, “The Battle of Anghiari,” is quite large and said to be three times the width of “The Last Supper.”  How can a mural that large be hidden?  Seracini believes the mural is hidden underneath a more recent fresco, behind a wall in the Hall of the 500, the Palazzo Vecchio’s grand ceremonial chamber in Florence, Italy.

With dogged determination Seracini has employed various scientific techniques to analyze the structure of the Hall of the 500. He is encouraged by the message “cerca trova” (seek and you shall find), written on the current fresco in the Palazzo Vecchio. Seracini is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to analyze a second wall he has discovered, hidden in the Hall of the 500.

Once he navigates his way through a few more political and bureaucratic obstacles he will finally be able to test his theory. Florence’s new mayor, Matteo Renzi says they’re just a few weeks away from approving the process.  We’re on the edge of our seats waiting for the next update.

Watch the clip below to see how the two little words “cerca trova” encouraged Seracini to keep looking for the missing mural despite challenges and setbacks.

Check out The Da Vinci Detective for more clips and information about Seracini.

(Photo of Embracing Hope Design. Let us know, who would you most want to see photographed wearing the Hope Diamond in its temporary new setting?)

The election is over, but now the delicate work begins. In a high security vault-like workshop, Harry Winton’s most expert jewelers are just beginning to turn the winning design into a wearable – and immeasurably valuable! – piece of covetable jewelry.

Their job won’t be easy. The lustrous platinum ribbons that define Embracing Hope’s style appear simple in structure. But the jewelers have warned us that the process they’ll follow to craft the smooth grace of Galli’s innovative design will be anything but simple!

It will take them weeks just to shape rigid platinum strips into the lithe look of curving ribbons. Once they’ve plied the platinum into place, they’ll then painstakingly select and cut only the most perfect baguettes to cradle the big blue Hope in its new setting. Check back here soon for more inside scoop on how Harry Winston’s top jewelers select, cut and set diamonds.
While Winston’s best carefully craft the new setting, the Hope will be on display au naturale in its usual spot on the second floor of the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum. Hurry to the Mall! This may be your only chance to catch a glimpse of the cursed Hope in all its natural beauty unadorned by any setting – traditional or new.

April 2010 will be your first chance to see the Hope in its new setting. The Embracing Hope design will make its debut during the Smithsonian Channel’s MYSTERY OF THE HOPE DIAMOND.

Almost 100 years will have passed since the iconic Hope’s setting was last altered — but purists, don’t despair! Embracing Hope is just a passing new style for the world’s most legendary gem. The Hope Diamond will return to its familiar and more traditional setting after a few months on display wearing its updated look.

Will all the commotion surrounding the Hope stir up a new chapter in the tale of the diamond’s legendary curse? Let us know what you think. Who would you most want to see photographed wearing the Hope Diamond in its temporary setting? In its classic setting?

“Soul of a People” is rolling into a town near you. Keep an eye out for events that may be happening in your hometown. Photo courtesy of Spark Media.

The Great Depression was at time of unparalleled national crisis; as millions of Americans faced unemployment, vanishing life savings, banks foreclosing on homes and feeling a general loss of hope, they turned to a newly elected President to lead them out of this turbulent time. Sounds eerily like today’s economic situation.

But the Great Depression was also a time that created a unique opportunity to capture the essence of America. “Soul of A People” explores one of the most controversial public assistance programs of the Great Depression, The Federal Writers Project.

One of four arts programs under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Project employed thousands of unemployed writers, including Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, Jim Thompson and John Cheever. Professional and amateur writers alike, fanned out across America to interview its citizens, and produce a portrait of the USA from the ground up in a series of state travel guides. They captured a unique portrait of 1930’s Americana. But what began as a program to create guidebooks for every state ended up igniting a storm of controversy when writers sought out not only the triumphs of America, but also its tragedies.

In conjunction with the documentary, libraries across the country are exploring the rich histories recorded by the WPA.  Reviving the writings and recordings of authors long since past and rediscovering cultural history in their own hometown.  Many libraries will feature special screenings of the documentary. Click Here to find an event near you.

Librarian Janet Stewart said, “You get a real sense of what that time was like, and I don’t think you can come away from the documentary without feeling a sense of pride with the people, the country, and the talent.” Stewart will be participating in events at Clark Memorial Library at Shawnee State University.

Kansas University, Wadsworth Public Library,  and many other libraries across the country will be participating. Let us know if you attend one of the events. We would love to hear your feedback.

Designers at Harry Winston have created three new settings for the Hope Diamond. It’s up to the public to choose the winning design.

The three new designs are stylish, they’re fancy, they’re modern and stunning…but it’s up to you to decide which setting will make the Hope Diamond shine. Since Harry Winston donated the striking gem to the Smithsonian, he was essentially donating the big, blue beauty to the American public. Therefore, it’s only fitting that America decide the new setting.  We’ve already chosen our favorite; leave a comment below and let us know which design is your favorite and why it should win. Or, do you think the Hope is perfect just the way it is? How do you think these new designs compare with the historic setting?

CLICK HERE TO CAST YOUR VOTE. VOTING ENDS SEPTEMBER 7TH.

Once the votes are collected, the winner will be announced and jewelers from Harry Winston will begin creating the new piece. While the new setting is in production, the Hope will be displayed au naturale, out of its historic setting, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Once the new design is complete, the Hope will slip into it’s new temporary setting and be placed on display for a limited time. That’s right, temporary. We’re not trying to change history here, just a little sparkling celebration.

In the buff. While awaiting it’s new temporary design, the Hope Diamond will be displayed out of it’s setting.

We’re well aware of the infamous Hope Diamond curse and agree that the gem should return to its iconic historic setting.  Our film crews are busy documenting the whole history of the Hope Diamond in an upcoming documentary scheduled to air in spring of 2010. Along the way we’ve collected stories of curses and the tragic tale of the Hope’s most famous owner, Evalyn Walsh McLean. If the Hope truly was the cause of all her troubles, maybe we shouldn’t tempt the fates. What do you think? Will all of this excitement stir up the curse of the Hope Diamond!?!

The Smithsonian Channel has been working with Taylor and Spark Media to produce a documentary based on Taylor’s book. His meticulous research brought to life a cast of first time writers and a rich history that contains frightening parallels to our current economic state. Now Smithsonian Channel is bringing the story of the WPA to life on HD television. Hear the origins of  “Soul of a People” in this interview with author David Taylor.

David Taylor, author of Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America.

Show Notes: (below are time codes for the interview in case you want to listen to a particular topic)

00.10 – A brief description of the book Soul of a People.
00.55 – How David first stumbled upon the WPA State Guides.
02.04 – Where can you find the WPA books? You’re local library!
02.55 – A colorful cast of writers contributed to the WPA state guides.
04.13 – Writing for the WPA.
05.53 – The old State guides can still lead you to treasures off the beaten path.
07.17 – Recipes along the road.
08.36 – What if the WPA guidebooks were written now?
09.40 - The future of recording life histories, blog, Facebook or novel?
11.13 – David Taylor on why storytelling is important.

From local foods to modern day travels to Facebook, these are a few of the highlights of my conversation with David Taylor:

GB: A few of these guides contain recipes, even something as personal as a family recipe. Do you feel like you can still find those unique aspects of the culture or is that sort of lost?

DT:  I think in a lot of places you can still find some versions of those recipes you might have to go off the beaten path. For example there’s a WPA guide to Route 1, Highway 1, up and down the East coast from Maine to Florida. There is no more homogenized or commercial route at least in the mid-Atlantic region. But in that guide you do find descriptions of Maryland crabs and seafood there that you can still find. If you go to family run restaurants between here and Baltimore you find those recipes are still used. I was using the North Carolina guide a few months ago and they have good descriptions of not just a range of BBQ styles you can find but other dishes that kind of take you into pockets of regional cuisine that are still there, but you might not know to ask until you still read about it.

GB: That leads me to think so many people blog and use Facebook and we feel like we have so much communication. We hear people’s stories all the time in little snippets.  Like the writers guides told life histories, I feel that we’re constantly broadcasting our life histories now. Do you think that changes literature or has an effect on the life histories that we record in books now?

DT: That’s another fascinating question cause I think it means we have more permutations of how we tell our stories now. Sometimes I think that the long forms of stories are falling out of exercise with the short bursts of podcasts and blog entries. But often people use those to put together a longer account, whether it’s their time in Iraq or their travels across the country, or whatever. They use those as building blocks to tell longer stories about their experience. So, I’m not sure what’s being lost but I think there are new forms being gained. Just like the way in the 30’s, they thought a lot of these stories were being lost but they were also using new technology like field recording machines to capture, maybe even in three minute intervals, the songs that people sang or the stories that people told.

Learn more about Soul of a People, scheduled to premiere Labor Day Weekend.

This Przewalski foal is a special victory for an endangered species. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian National Zoo.

The National Zoo in the Woodley Park area of Washington, DC isn’t the only place welcoming newborn animals this summer. In the 24 hours between July 9 and 10, three different babies were born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia.

The Smithsonian Channel welcomes a new clouded leopard cub, Przewalski’s horse foal and a red panda cub to the brood of recent zoo babies.

Take a look at our footage of the Smithsonian’s Przewalski’s horses, the only true wild horse left in the world. Originally native to China and Mongolia these horses were declared extinct in 1970. Now, thanks to Smithsonian conservation efforts some of these “P” horses, as they are called, live in the United States, in Virgina!

Take a look at more pictures from the baby boom of endangered species at the National Zoological Park’s Flickr photo gallery.

Sant Ocean Hall uploaded to Flickr by NCinDC

Long summer days and humid weather means we’re all daydreaming about the beach, the ocean and life outside of work. But when the workdays are long, we here in the DC area can get our “ocean fix” at the Museum of Natural History’s Sant Ocean Hall. The cool blue reflection on the walls, amazing underwater footage and a surprising number of marine species all make for a soothing experience and a quick escape from the summer heat. The exhibit hall opened last September, so this is the first summer that tourist are able to escape the heat in the company of whales, schools of fish and giant squids!

A recent episode of Smithsonian Spotlight highlights the deep blue exhibit and provides interesting information about the place to which many of us make our summer pilgrimage. That vast expanse of blue isn’t just for cooling off and catching waves. The world’s oceans provide food for more than 3.5 million people and covers nearly three-fourths of the earth’s surface. Yet, despite it’s vast appearance, the ocean is in trouble. Years of exploitation have taken a huge toll on our marine resources, and for Smithsonian scientists that sounds like a call to action!

Before you visit the Sant Ocean Hall, brush up on your ocean knowledge with our short quiz below.

If you’ve already visited the museum, drop us a line and let us know your favorite part of the exhibit!

Just to wet your appetite, you can now watch a full episode of the first season here!
After watching all of season one, I learned that true beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you never forget your first and there is a possibility of life after death.

At Smithsonian Channel, we’re privy to a lot of the goods the Smithsonian has to offer, but don’t think we don’t choose favorites. Check out our quick guide for a look at some of the museums’ most interesting artifacts, featured on Stories from the Vaults.

For the second season of the show, Tom delves deeper into the Smithsonian, finding tasty treats, wild experiments and crazy creatures.  But of course no history lesson is complete without a field trip! Tom also heads to Panama to visit Smithsonian’s Tropical Research Institute.

So prepare yourself! We’re not just peeking into the nation’s attic, we’re going on an all access tour from the bottom to the top.  Think you already know everything there is to know about the Smithsonian? Take our quick quiz to find out.

“Stories from the Vaults” host Tom Cavanagh posing in front of the Smithsonian Castle.

Here at Smithsonian Channel we’re gearing up for the premiere of the second season of Stories from the Vaults. We’ve freed up our Sunday night in anticipation of the premiere and we’re spreading the word! Earlier this week host Tom Cavanagh stopped by Live! With Regis and Kelly for a quick interview. Stuart Zakim, our VP of Corporate Public Relations was there for the interview and gave us a little taste of the behind-the-scenes experience.

Tom Cavanagh did a great job interviewing today on Live! With Regis and Kelly, taped for airing this Friday, 7/10. When Tom arrived at the studio I took him to the green room for some quick refreshments while the hosts set up the segment. I munched on some fruit while Tom sipped on coffee and had a quick hair and make-up touch up. Serena Williams was the guest before Tom, so we watched her interview on the green room TV and chatted about her Wimbledon win.  One of the producers came in to go over the segment and how it would run and then Tom was ready for action.  After a few minutes, Regis and Kelly announced Tom, and the producers escorted him around the corner and out the door to the set. Tom talked up “Stories from the Vaults.”

After highlighting anecdotes from his filming adventures in Panama and inside the Smithsonian’s 19 Museums, Tom and Kelly reminisced about “Ed”, the series they both worked on a few years ago. At the end of the segment, Tom spoke about his recent trip to Africa to support his personal charity, “NothingButNets“, a global initiative to prevent malaria by providing insecticide treated bed nets to refugees in Uganda, an issue that we’re familiar with at the Smithsonian Channel through our new show, Zambezi!

The interview was perfect and Tom came out of the studio with a grin. We said our good-byes and he was off. We’re excited the Regis and Kelly episode will air just in time for Stories from the Vaults season premiere on July 12th!

Catch a sneak peek before the premiere this weekend.
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